


You're My Hero

by Something_untraceable



Category: Disney Duck Universe, DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures
Genre: Family Feels, Family Secrets, Fluff and Angst, M/M, i need duck avenger in the show stat, yes there are everonians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2020-09-26 19:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20394916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Something_untraceable/pseuds/Something_untraceable
Summary: Donald accomplished a lot as the Duck Avenger. But after he retired the cape he never truly realized that no one ever forgot him until now. Eight years after retiring he's dating one very handsome and energetic scientist/hero who's been taking a few pages out of his book.





	1. Panic

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I was going to write a Caballeros ship fic, but then I read Duck Avenger and some other fics whoops

Duckburg had never seen chaos like this before. The city was cast in the shadow of a massive purple ship high above it. Beams of deadly lasers and light struck the ground, rupturing the peaceful masses into panic. Hovercrafts flew every which way, Evronians at the helm in practiced order. No more would they hide, they were taking the city by storm and all the energy that it possessed. 

The police were in a frenzy to get control of the situation, protecting the people at every cost. One in particular was valiant enough to pull anyone she saw outside into the ducklair tower with her own life at risk. 

“Thank you Officer Cabrera,” said one breathless duck who shook her hand.

“You can thank me later. Please get further inside to safety, we aren’t out of the water yet,” she directed with stern compassion.

Her phone rang, she didn’t hesitate to answer it.

“Pollito are you alright? Tell me you’re somewhere safe,” she pleaded into the receiver.

“I’m okay, M’ma. I was in the chemistry lab when all this crazy stuff started happening and my professor made us all get under the tables. I’m still here right now, but I wanted to know what’s going on?”

There’s a scream from outside and Officer Cabrera is ready to spring into action. “Stay where you are, I’ll have to explain when this is all over,” she hangs up on her son before he can get another word in. She loves Fenton, but she has a job to do.

Citizens scrambled to hide, some without luck. Their very energy and essence zapped from their body in a single shot. Never had the city been in such disarray and without hope. But then He arrived.

The city’s hero the Duck Avenger sprung into action, punching through evronian after evronian. A one man army who knew exactly what he was dealing with; it’s almost like he knew this invasion was coming. He stole one of their crafts and stowed onto the looming ship above. The news never could cover what went on inside, but when all the evronians outside froze in their tracks they knew.

An explosion like no other ruptured in blinding blue flames the ship went down and the citizens rejoiced. Evronians fled, cursing the Duck Avenger, screaming there would be hell to pay one day. All the citizens that were freeze flamed regained their sense of self. There were repairs to the city to be done with the downfall of the spaceship, but as everyone came out of hiding one question remained. Where was the Duck Avenger?

Slowly people who came out of safe hiding to view the damage, they cheered and cried and laughed because they were saved. No evronian was in sight. The daylight the ship blocked before had now returned. 

Officer Cabrera helped the injured to a better place the paramedics could check on them. Once settled she made her rounds around the block to offer her help for those who needed it, when from the corner of her eye she saw a figure slumped against the wall of the adjacent alley. 

She rushed to their side in hopes that whoever it was hadn’t been killed in the carnage. That is when she first came face to face with the Duck Avenger. He was a bloody mess, breathing rapidly and with the fist not in his shield he was clutching a piece of what she assumed to be shrapnel from the ship lodged in his side. 

She had heard a lot about the avenger, both good and bad from news reports and first hand encounters. None of it was like this moment.

“Avenger!” she said as she rushed to him and knelt beside him. She pulled the receiver clipped to her shoulder closer to her mouth to alert any paramedic listening. “I need an immediate medical unit on 7th street between the laundromat and coffee shop. The Duck Avenger is seriously injured.” There was no response.

There was no way she could remove the shrapnel. The hero would bleed out and she didn’t have anything to stop that. He would have to bear the pain and the thought hurt her.

The hero have her a weak smile, his voice shaky, “Thank you… but if you could bring me into the ducklair tower that would be-”

“There’s now way you can be moved in this condition,” Officer Cabrera interrupted. “You need an ambulance and trained medical professionals.” She ignored his protests in favor of repeating her call into the receiver. This time an answer. Help was on the way.

The avenger too his arm out of his shield and placed it on hers to regain her attention. Her head whipped back to him and she squeezed his hand in response. She couldn’t make out much from the mask, but he looked so much younger than she originally thought he was. It made her heart ache for him and for her son she hoped was safe.

The avenger interrupted her thoughts. “Listen-” he coughed weakly. “Listen if I die -”

“You’re not going to die, I won’t let you on my watch. So please hang in there, help is coming.”

“If. If I die… I need someone to get my boys.”

Officer Cabrera was confused, “Your boys?”

The avenger nodded slightly, but moving made him grit his teeth in pain. “My boys,” he reiterated. “Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck. They’re only two years old and with a sitter right now.” The avenger pauses to catch his already shallow breath. “If I don’t make it can you find them and…” the hero bites his lower bill in hesitation. “And send them to my uncle? I don’t really want them with him, but there’s no one else.”

Cabrera was taken aback. She never imagined the city’s resident hero had children let alone three toddlers. What was more surprising was the fact that by giving her their names he was practically trusting her with his secret identity. She could easily figure out who he was through them. Would she do that? Probably not, that would be an awful betrayal of trust.   
The hero squeezed her hand, “Please?”

Officer Cabrera looked him in the eyes and nodded. 

“Only if you die.”

“Only if,” the hero agreed.

The ambulance arrived just shortly after and Officer Cabrera backed away to let the paramedics take care of him. She stayed with him while he lay there in the alley, but once they hauled him off on a gurney and into the ambulance she stayed behind.

She pulled aside one of the EMTs just before they left. “Please don’t take off his mask. After all this he deserves to keep his identity.”

The EMT nodded and in a rush of blaring sirens she was alone.

Going back on her rounds of the block she continued to help those who needed her. It was a good distraction while she waited to hear any sort of news and she knew the news would cover what happened to the avenger immediately. It was hours, and she was more than tired by the time the chaos winded down. It wasn’t until 1am that she got back home. When she opened the door she found Fenton slouched on the couch asleep in the lamplight. She smiled, he had tried to wait for her. She should have called him, but she was only working on low energy at this point. 

She chuckled to herself as she tucked her college aged son into bed before passing out into her own.

She had been on edge throughout the next day. The news had covered the hero’s fatal injury and that he was being monitored at the hospital, but there was nothing on if he was going to recover. 

Some reporters like the known hero hater Angus Fangus has already proclaimed the Duck avenger as good as dead, but she knows better to only listen to him. So she waits and waits and waits. The day passes and she’s already back at work doing a late shift to help with the invasion damages. 

Her phone rings, she doesn’t even need to check who it is because from the ringtone she knows its Fenton. “Pollito what-”

“He left the hospital!” he yells into her ear.

“Honey what are you talking about?”

“The Duck Avenger! It's all over the news right now. He snuck out of the hospital without being discharged!” Fenton continued loudly.

“He what?” Cabrera said in surprise. “Why would he do something so stupid?”

“Maybe someone was about to uncover his identity?” Fenton theorized.

Officer Cabrera shook her head in disbelief. “I have to get back to work, sweetie. But I’ll keep an ear out for if I hear anything about the avenger.”

She hung up and set her phone down. She rubbed her temples with her hands, but even in the swamp of stress and work she couldn’t help, but smile. The hero was definitely alive if he could manage to sneak out of the hospital that was said to be keeping him under constant surveillance. 

Ever since that night she tried to listen for news on the avenger, but for days nothing cropped up. Crime was low, but for once that was only the police’s doing and not from any help from a certain vigilante. It made her a little sad, even though her colleagues were glad to not have interference she really wanted to hear how he and his kids were doing. 

It was a week after the invasion, when things had finally settled down that a letter with no resend address mysteriously arrived for the chief of police. And at the same time a vase of flowers was delivered to her desk with no address on it either, but there was a simple card attached.

‘I might not be alive without your help. Thank you for keeping my anonymity and calling the ambulance. I might not have gotten to see my boys again without you.” - D.A.

The letter to the chief confirmed to the city that the Duck Avenger was resigning. Cabrera was disheartened, but she couldn’t blame him. With three kids and such a risky job he probably thought he might never see them again. She hoped for the best for him and maybe their paths would cross again.


	2. Paths Crossing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fenton brings home an interesting date. :3c

The sound of spoons clanging against the side of pans filled the immediate air space. The smell from the kitchen was wonderful and something Fenton never tired of whenever he helped his M’ma cook. His stomach growled, but that would have to wait. Dinner wasn’t ready yet and their anticipated guest had yet to arrive.

“You’re going to love him,” said Fenton as he turned the stove-top heat on low.

His M’ma smiled, “You’ve said that three times now, I’m beginning to worry that I won’t. How many dates have you gone on with this Donald?”

“Four… Five if you count the time he ate lunch with me in the lab.”

“And you’re serious enough that it's okay for us to meet?” M’ma asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think you’re going to be able to scare him off,” Fenton chuckled. “Besides I’ve already all of his family because they’re always around. And I think you’ll like them too besides your not as optimistic opinion on Mr. Scrooge.”

“He’s related to Scrooge McDuck?”

“He’s Scrooge’s nephew. He and his -”

The doorbell rang, stopping Fenton mid explanation. Fenton was quick to drop what he was doing and rush to the front door. His energy and enthusiasm always made his M’ma smile. Fenton did a quick hair check to make sure it was as perfectly coiffed as usual before opening the door.

He greeted Donald who was on the other side who surprisingly had made a wardrobe change for the occasion. Donald was wearing a white button down shirt and blue blazer that very nicely accented his eyes. 

Fenton was helpless to stare at his boyfriend as he had never seen him not in his usual sailor getup. Shaking himself out of his gaze Fenton let Donald in and gave him a hug. 

“You look great. Not that you don’t always it's just right now particularly you look -”

“Thank you,” Donald said with a sweet smile to stop Fenton from his usual rambling. They would be standing there all day if he didn’t. 

“It smells great in here. I can already tell I’m going to love dinner,” Donald commented.

“I hope you’re hungry because we prepared a feast,” M’ma interrupted. She wiped her hand on her apron before extending it to Donald. “It's nice to finally meet you Donald. I’m Maria Cabrera.”

Donald blinked owlishly at her for a hesitant second before smiling widely and shaking her hand firmly. “It’s very nice to meet you too. Thank you for inviting me into your home, Fenton talks a lot about you and how amazing you are.”

Maria laughs, “He’s talked a lot about you too. Let me get dinner finished up and then we can continue our conversation.”

“Let me know if you want my help,” Donald offered.

“Please, you’re our guest. Just have a seat at the table, it will be ready soon.”

Donald took his seat at the table while Maria took to plating dinner and Fenton helping her. Donald had been nervous before he got here, but now he didn’t know what to feel. He never forgot a face and while it had been over eight years he recognized Officer Cabrera instantly. The nerves were still there, but now coated with the tender feeling of happiness knowing his boyfriend’s mother is the same woman who saved his life. No wonder Fenton was such a great person. 

Food was set on the table and the three of them gladly partook in the wonderful home cooked meal. Donald’s nerves dissipated as conversation flowed.

“You speak Spanish?” asked M’ma when he had responded to her comment in Spanish with ease.

“Well enough to hold some conversations,” replied Donald. “And a little Portuguese, my two best friends are from Mexico and Brazil.”

“That’s wonderful you picked up on your friend’s languages. It’s so useful to be multilingual I don’t know why more people don’t try to learn.”

Fenton was practically beaming, he knew when his M’ma found out Donald could speak Spanish she would enjoy it. For once he wasn’t talking everyone's ear off he, with dinner going so well he didn't want to interrupt save for a few interjections.

“One of his nephews is picking up on languages too,” said Fenton. “You met Huey that one time, remember the duckling in the red cap?”

The name Huey wasn’t a common one, but it sounded familiar to her. Probably because she met him. “Oh yes I remember, with the little girl that was clearly trying to act casual? I don’t know why you thought you could hide anything from me, Pollito. You’re a very bad liar.”

Fenton laughed awkwardly, “Yeah I know. You, Donald and everyone seems to know about Gizmoduck. I’m not sure how the press doesn’t.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way, you don’t need them following you around all day,” said Donald.

M’ma decided to steer the conversation elsewhere, besides this dinner was about getting to know her son’s boyfriend. “So you have nephews, Donald? Do you see them often.”

“More often than they would like to see me,” said Donald with a chuckle. “I’ve raised them since they were eggs for over ten years, they’re practically like my sons. They’re triplets and they like to cause trouble, but I could have asked for better kids.”

They way Donald looked off while thinking about his nephews let Maria know that he really did love them as if they were his own children. From what she could tell he was probably a very responsible parent, but Fenton had never mentioned to him that he was dating a man with children. Triplets no less. She’d have to talk with him on that subject after dinner.

“I don’t know how you can handle three, I had trouble with just this one,” M’ma got a good laugh out of her son’s embarrassment. “What are their names?”

Donald was quick to pull out his phone and pull up a picture of his boys. There were so many to choose from, but he decided on the one of all of them and Christmas in their sweaters was the best. 

“There’s Huey, Dewey and Louie,” said Donald as he pointed each one out on his screen.

M’ma’s fork clattered as it dropped onto her plate. Both Fenton and Donald looked up at her, startled. She was quick to recompose herself, hoping they wouldn’t notice her shock. 

“Whoops sorry about that. They’re very cute Donald, I’m sure they’re all sweet. Did you raise them all on your own?” she said with a calm smile as she picked her fork back up.

Either she got away with it or her awkward transition was ignored, whatever it was she was thankful.

Donald put his phone back in his pocket, “Yep, just me and the three of them for the past ten years. They’re really my sister’s sons, but uh.. She kinda went missing for a long time. She’s back now, but it wasn’t easy without her.”

It was a sensitive topic, Maria could tell so she moved away from it. Dinner went smoothly in all their opinions save for a few walked around subjects. Fenton couldn’t have asked for a better night than spending it with his M’ma and boyfriend, but the night wasn’t over yet.

“Fenton sweetie, could you take the dishes and start without me? I’ll be with you in a minute to fetch dessert,” said M’ma with her trademark smile that always came after meals like this.

Fenton gulped audibly. This was the part he wasn’t looking forward to, the part where he goes out of the room and his M’ma intimidates whoever he’s seeing. He may sometimes be oblivious, but he wasn’t stupid. He knows exactly what happens when he leaves the room. But Donald is tough and stubborn, if he wasn’t sure he could handle whatever M’ma had to say he wouldn’t have brought him here.

“Okay M’ma,” said Fenton as he got up and took the dishes to the kitchen. He gave Donald one last smile and wink before he left, causing Donald to blush with M’ma witnessing.

Maria watched her son go before turning to face Donald and scooting over to sit in her son’s chair to sit closer to him. Donald leaned back a little in response. He knew she was a nice woman, but Fenton had warned him about how over dramatic she could be.

“So,” M’ma started as she rested her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands. Even though she was sure the sink would drown out what Fenton could here she lowered her voice. “Does my son know he’s dating his heroic inspiration?”

Donald’s jaw dropped, that was the one question he wasn’t ready for. How did she know? Did she recognize him? No one could tell who he was behind the mask there was no way. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking a-”

“Sweetie you don’t need to hide that you’re the Duck Avenger. I don’t mean to startle you, but I had to know. Judging from your expression, I’m right?” said Maria.

Donald snapped his bill shut, still in shock. He nodded slowly in confirmation. “I am.. But how did you figure it out? The only other people to do that were A.Is.”

Maria smiled and leaned back into her seat, “I wouldn’t have figured it out if it weren’t for the conversation we had that day you saved the city.”

When Donald gave her a quizzical look she was confused as well. “Do you not remember? In that alley you were bleeding and you told me that if you didn’t pull through that you needed me to find your boys. Huey, Dewey and Louie. I don’t think there are any other triplets with those names so I knew it had to be you.”

“Oh wow,” said Donald as he tried to process what he was told. “I definitely remember bleeding, but as for what I told you… I must have really been out of it. That sounds like something I’d say though.”

“I can tell you really care for them since you were willing to blow your cover to a stranger, just to know they would be safe,” said M’ma with a kind smile. “Fenton was right when he said I would like you. But does he know you’re a hero? His hero to be exact.”

Now out of his stupor Donald shook his head, “My family doesn’t even know. I can count the number of people that know my identity on one hand. I can’t really say anything because my boys are already pretty mad at me for hiding things like me being in the navy.”

“Thank you for your service, but if I may ask how did you hide something like that?”

“They weren’t born when I was in the navy.”

This was already proving to be more informative than the dinner. Maria didn’t know what to make of Donald, there were still so many puzzle pieces missing. “You must have been really young then when you joined.”

“Joined right out of high school,” said Donald with a shrug. “The discipline might have helped for making me a better hero, but who's to say.”

“You don’t seem like you were a very bad or undisciplined child to me.”

Donald laughed, “I had a very bad emo and goth phase.”

Maria snorted at that. Who would have guessed the Duck Avenger was emo in his school years? Certainly not her.

“One more thing,” said M’ma. “I’m not trying to be rude and you don’t need to answer, but did something happen to your voice? It sounds nothing like I remember.”

Donald chuckled, he didn’t blame her for wanting to know. “This is my normal voice. I had a friend help implement a voice changer in my suit the same time I got my shield. You might remember I didn’t really talk to people or the press before then. My voice would have been a dead giveaway.”

“That certainly makes sense.”

M’ma stood up from her seat, looking like he might laugh at any moment trying to imagine if Donald had chosen a black edgy costume instead. “Alright well you stay right there, I’m going to help Fenton clean up and bring out dessert. I made flan.”

Donald smiled and gave her a thumbs up, “Sounds great!”

Fenton slowly closed the front door behind him as he walked Donald outside. “I hope M’ma didn’t say anything too intimidating while I wasn’t there, she means well,” Fenton said with a nervous chuckle.

Donald smiled and shook his head, “She did catch me off guard at first, but I enjoyed talking with her. After meeting her it makes sense how you turned out so great.”

Fenton beamed that sunlight bright smile, “I’m so glad you came over for dinner, I’m sure she liked talking to you too.”

“I think so too,” agreed Donald. Before he left he took a step forward and pressed his bill to Fenton’s in a soft kiss. He thought he would leave in a sweet goodbye, but Donald should have known Fenton wouldn’t agree with that.

Fenton wrapped an arm around Donald and pressed forward in a searing kiss, the kind that leaves you dizzy and wanting more, but both of them knew they couldn’t just stand there and make out at the front door while Fenton’s mom was inside. So when they parted Donald left Fenton with a kiss on the cheek and waved goodbye.

Fenton watched him go for a moment, before going back inside and closing the door behind him while sighing dreamily. He was jolted out of his daze when he saw his M’ma out of the corner of his eye standing by the window. 

She had one eyebrow raised and a knowing smirk on her face, “I knew my son could be smooth if he tried.”

“M’ma!!”

M’ma laughed and hugged her son, “I’m teasing you Pollito. You were right, I do like Donald.” She let go of Fenton and patted him on the back as they walked further into the house. “But I must say, you certainly know how to pick ‘em.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Fenton.

M’ma shook her head, “Nothing. Good night dear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm probably yelling into the void but comments and kudos are always appreciated!
> 
> And if you have the time plz check out my ongoing original work Fae, Foxes and Changeling Troubles.


	3. Panic 2: Electric Boogaloo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heroes working together? The Duck Avenger returns from retirement? It can't possibly be!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter would have been out sooner if I wasn't losing my shit over new ducktales episodes. DONALD IS THE BEST DAD I STAN FOREVER <3

A shockwave coursed through the city, shaking everything to its core. The power went out for a moment before flickering back to life in every building. Even underwater Gyro and Fenton could feel the earth shake, but the two scientists could tell it was no earthquake. 

An alarm went off, specifically the one meant to summon Gizmoduck. Fenton dropped what he was doing, to Gyro’s dismay was making coffee, and sprung into action.

“Blathering Blatherskite!” shouted Fenton and in an instant the robotic suit formed around his body. Fenton waved Gyro off, “Welp! Duty calls.” And he blasted off through their specially made shute, off to be a hero again.

Gyro rolled his eyes and went back to working on his current project. Probably another one of those idiot weather villains Fenton keeps getting.

Gizmoduck scoped out the city skyline from above, checking for distress. The power was back on and the citizens seemed to all be okay, in fact it looked to be business as usual. No loud self proclaimed villain shouting from the rooftops to challenge Gizmoduck, so he chalked it up to something faulty in the electric company. Or at least he was going to until something knocked him out of the sky.

Gizmoduck’s helmet propeller sputtered and his rockets wouldn’t cooperate until moments before he could hit the ground his suit worked properly again. He was able to fly back up, just in time to see an enormous ship enter the atmosphere.

Gizmoduck’s jaw dropped. He and the city had seen this once before, the looming purple mass that shadowed over the entirety of Duckburg. It had been eight years but it’s hard to forget a mass alien invasion. 

“Holy shit,” said a voice behind Gizmoduck.

He turned to see on the rooftop below him Duckburg’s new resident superhero, Darkwing Duck. Clad in his usual purple and wore a gaze of amazed horror at the sky.

“Didn’t the Avenger beat this thing before?” asked Darkwing.

Gizmoduck nodded, “He did and he blew up the ship too so that means-”

“This one is new,” Darkwing finished for him.

Just as he said it Evronians came pouring out every which side on hovercrafts in sets of two. The invasion wasted no time, they didn’t remember it wasting any last time either.

Darkwing fired his grappling hook high in the air, latching onto the next tallest building. “The Avenger fought these guys all on his own the first time. Which means those bozos are no match for me! Let’s get dangerous!” Darkwing leapt off the building, grappling higher to cover more ground.

Gizmoduck wasn’t able to get a word in, but it looks like there was no time for words now. He flew into action, no plan ahead of him. It was hard to plan with this many aliens swarming like killer bees, much larger and angrier killer bees at that.

A swarm of several on their disk like hovercrafts stopped in the air a mere few feet from Gizmoduck. “Where is the Duck Avenger?!” the Evronian leading the group snarled.

“We’re the cities heroes now! The Avenger retired!” Fenton shouted back.

The Evronians took a quick glance among themselves before all turning back to Fenton with similar fiendish looking grins. “Then we’ll just have to bring him out of retirement.”

“Guys! Check out the news!” Dewey shouted from the television room. The kids and Della all scrambled at his call. The other adults and Lena taking their time.

“What are you doing watching the news, dork?” said Louie sarcastically as he entered.  
“An alien invasion!” Webby screeched in amazement. “I’ve been waiting for this day!” she says excitedly as she pulls out a crossbow seemingly out of nowhere.

Della ran to the screen, “Wait is it the moon aliens?” Her eyes darted across the screen as she tried to catch a glimpse of the mayhem. She crossed her arms when she didn’t recognize them. “Who the hell are these skinny, purple guys?

Huey raised his hand as though he were in class, “Oh I know! They invaded Duckburg eight years ago with this huuuge armada and then were stopped by the Duck Avenger!”

Donald stopped in his tracks in the doorway as Scrooge walked inside. The context of the conversation and the news feed on screen told him enough. He saw a glimpse of the camera catching Gizmoduck flying across the sky. Slowly he started to back out of the room while his family was in conversation.

“Where are you going?” Mrs. Beakley asked from behind him, a single eyebrow raised.

Donald turned around. “Oh uh- I forgot my phone on the boat. I need to get it and then I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for an answer Donald dashed off towards the pool. Turning the corner he changed route and went for the back door.

Never did he expect the Evronians to come back it had been so long since he defeated them for what he thought was once and for good. If he knew this was going to happen, he would have had his suit ready or at least told Fenton what to prepare for. Donald mentally slapped himself for being an idiot and not telling Fenton his identity.

Quickly out the back door Donald got into his car and sped into the city and chaos on a direct route to Ducklair Tower.

These Evronians were relentless, just when Fenton thought they stopped coming another wave poured out of the ship. He had to stay hyper aware and it was getting exhausting. Whatever these aliens were shooting at him it made his suit go haywire for a few seconds so he had to be crafty about dodging or else his face would eventually kiss the ground. He only hopped Darkwing was holding up okay wherever he was. 

Down below civilians were getting to safety, officers leading them indoors. He prayed his M’ma was okay, but he knew she could handle herself just fine. He had to focus, blasting another alien in the face and then another and a punch to another. He wretched a hovercraft out from underneath a pair and smashed the craft to metallic junk. The space invaders kept coming.

Darkwing appeared onto the building below Gizmoduck, hopping onto the next as he was being pursued by a small fleet of Evronians. As he dove into a sharp turn Darkwing took out three Evronians with his gun, barrel rolling and continuing his chase. 

Gizmoduck locked onto seven Evronians closing in on him then fired the explosives in his suit at them, knocking the invaders out. Catching the attention of more aliens they zoomed across the sky for Fenton. He was ready, but just before anything all of the invaders stopped and simultaneously turned their heads away towards the distance. Confused Gizmoduck and Darkwing looked in the same direction.

Flying in on a stolen Evronian hovercraft was none other than the Duck Avenger, the first time he’s been seen since the last invasion. He sped across the skies meeting the Evronians halfway as they changed course to the Avenger. Tossing his shield like boomerang he knocked two Evronians out of their vehicles, before the shield came back and he knocked out the other three.

“I thought my message last time was clear! Stay away Earth!”

“Duck Avenger! You’re back!” Fenton shouted with glee. Sure this wasn’t the best situation to see him in, but there he was. His hero!

“A lot sooner than I would like to be back, but nothing can stop me from kicking some Evronian butt!” replied Duck Avenger with a hardened stare at the looming ship above.

“You said it DA!” Darkwing hollered. 

“We’re so glad to hear you say that Avenger,” a slimey voice said from behind them, causing all three ducks to turn around. Several Evronians were clustered 15 feet away, but the voice came from the alien projected from the craft and in the air. He wore a blue uniform rather than the menagerie of purple they’ve been seeing outside. “Because we’ve been very eager to see you again. And this time you and your planet will not get away so easily.”

“That’s what you think!” yelled Darkwing.

All three took to charge the swarm ahead of them, when suddenly more came from behind, closer than they could anticipate. Dozens had grabbed onto the Avenger, pulling him off the stolen craft. He blasted with lot of them with a firearm in his shield, but it only took out a few.

Gizmoduck had reached for his fellow hero when more aliens were on top of him. A blaster straight to the back caused his suit to lose propulsion and fall onto the rooftop below with a loud WHAM. 

Darkwing had shot off his grappling hook, latching onto the Duck Avenger’s leg. He pulled to free the hero, when his line was shot by a blaster and snapped in half. More aliens were swarming him too, but Darkwing would not go down and he would play dirty.

Firing his gas gun he vanished in the smoke, not leaving before kicking a hovercraft out from a couple of Evronians and then he was gone. In the confusion the aliens didn’t notice Gizmoduck had also disappeared. “Find them!” the lead Evronian shouted. The aliens all took to scatter and scan the area.

“What are you doing?! We need to get back up there and help the Avenger!” 

“Shhh!” Darkwing shushed Gizmoduck with a hand slapped to the mech hero’s beak.  
“We weren’t going to be any help where all of those purple pansies could see and reach us. Keep your voice down. We need an actual plan. We don’t know too much about these guys other than they’re after the Avenger and out to destroy us. They have to have some sort of weakness.” said Darkwing.

“We don’t have time to figure that out and we have to move fast, look!” Gizmo pointed up at the sky from their hiding spot in a nearby abandoned apartment building. The Duck Avenger had fended off several aliens, swinging violently in their grasp. His knuckles were bloody so he used the shield to repeatedly slam an Evronian over the head with it. 

“We have to go now!”

“Wait-!” Darkwing couldn’t stop Gizmoduck from rocketing out of the room, destroying the wall on his exit.

These Evronians were becoming more than a nuisance. Donald was getting tired, but he couldn’t let up. They were trying to take him to the ship and he didn’t want to find out why. “That charge almost ready, One?!” The Avenger shouted as he punched another purple alien bastard in the face.

“Almost ready DA. This new installment is purely experimental. I didn’t get the chance to run any tests on it because the invasion was so sudden,” said a voice that came from the communications in his shield.

Duck Avenger thrashed in the grasp of two Evronians, falling when they dropped him, but then even more grabbed onto his suit and swarmed him. “I thought you always planned ahead?”

“And I thought you got rid of these dolts for good.”

“Avenger!” Gizmoduck cried out as he flew into the chaotic airspace. A number of rockets launched from his suit, skillfully taking out the Evronians. Just as his hero began to fall Fenton swooped in and caught the Duck Avenger.

“I think that’s the most accurate I’ve been,” said Gizmoduck with a relieved sigh.

“Thanks for catching me, but we’re not out of the water yet,” the Avenger pointed back up at the massive purple ship above. 

From the sides poured out another wave of dozens of Evronians, just as angry and armed as the ones before them. 

“How many of them are there?!” exclaimed Gizmoduck.

“It’s a big ship. Ready now, One?” 

“Ready when you are, DA!”

“Wait what? Ready for what?” asked Gizmoduck with confusion. The swarm was only getting closer, what was going on?

“Don’t move Fen- Gizmoduck, wait until they get closer. I want to get all of them in one shot. On my signal.”

That wouldn’t take any time at all, Gizmoduck already had to dodge their blasts from this range. He wanted to move back, make space between him and the enemy, but he trusted the Duck Avenger. 

And just like that the Evronians were on them.

“Now!”

A shock wave that shook the very air around them burst from the Avenger’s shield. Fenton only caught of glimpse of the catastrophe it put on the aliens. One by one he would say they almost looked to have each combust. But the shock wave of energy rippled through his own suit and suddenly he couldn’t fly anymore. In the freefall he let go of his grasp on the Avenger.

An Evronian not caught in the blast swooped in on his hovercraft and from the base a bubble of energy was produced, encapsulating the Duck Avenger. The hero slammed his fists on the walls, cursing expletives at the alien trapping him.

“Oh no you don’t!” Darkwing shouted from the rooftops. He chased from rooftop to rooftop as long as the craft was close enough. He made a jump for the alien, but it dodged out and upwards to the base ship.

The Duck Avenger was caught.

The purple clad aliens retreated back to their ship, but didn’t they want the city too? Was capturing the Duck Avenger their only goal? Darkwing couldn’t believe his eyes when in a blink the shadow cast over their beloved Duckburg was gone and the skies were sunny again. It certainly didn’t feel that way to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again comments and kudos are appreciated :) 
> 
> Feel free to yell at me about the chapter or ducktales on my tumblr @75thhero


	4. Regrouping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gizmoduck and Darkwing Duck get a little outside help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever just laid down and cried over these characters because you saw some amazing fan art and you love them so much? That's been my week.

It was his fault. He had the Avenger with him in his grasp, but he let go. The blast caught him off guard, but that was no excuse. He should be prepared for anything. Fenton lay on the broken, rubble covered ground in a barely functional Gizmoduck suit as he berated himself internally. The hero he looked up to wouldn’t be captured by aliens if he only held on better… 

Darkwing leapt down to the ground alongside the mech hero. He looked down at Gizmoduck with an unreadable expression behind his purple mask. Fenton may be taller in his suit, but it always felt like Darkwing was looking down on him. This time it wasn’t metaphorical.

“What are you doing laying down? Get up, we have to find a way to follow those alien assholes.” 

“Can’t. Suit is busted,” said Gizmoduck with a sigh. “Besides there’s no way we have the technology to follow them. Not even our test rockets at the lab could go after something like that.”

Darkwing groaned and ran a hand down his beak in anguish, “Your suit breaks and you’re rendered useless? Now what the hell are we supposed to do?”

A new voice piped in, “Gentlemen if I may be of assistance? I think I might have a solution. Or well a few probable solutions.”

Darkwing turned and Gizmoduck leaned up at the sound of the voice. They saw no one around them, but ten feet away was the Duck Avengers X-Transformer shield on the ground.

“What the…” Darkwing walked over cautiously to the shield and picked it up carefully. “Did someone-”

“Yes someone did speak and that was me,” said the voice from the shield.

Darkwing dropped the shield out of surprise, “Who in the fuck!”

The shield sighed, “This is why I only work with DA…”

Finally able to get himself to sit up Fenton eyed the device with scientific curiosity. “You were talking earlier too before that blast. Are you like a sentient A.I. programmed inside the shield or are you a person working from elsewhere? What was that blast you had ready?”

“I’m sure I can explain everything as we go along, but we ought to move quickly if we want to get DA back. This goes Avenger’s and my personal rules, but if you can get to Ducklair tower undetected I can fix your suit and help you get to DA. On my own I can’t reach him like this,” the shield said with urgency.

“Ducklair tower?” asked Fenton.

“If its undetected you want I can do that no problem,” said Darkwing. “Though I make no promises for Gizmodork.”

“Hey!”

“Arguing is something I won’t tolerate. You want to help me get the Duck Avenger back? Then you need to work together to reach me,” there was no room for questions in his statement.

“Why can’t you get to us?” asked Darkwing.

“It’s complicated; you’ll see why when you get to the tower. Take the x-transformer with you and hurry.”

Darkwing strapped the shield onto his arm and heaved Gizmoduck up. Now upright, Fenton felt he had a little more control over the suit. At least there was still enough function left to control the wheel it balanced on.

Darkwing really thought navigating was going to be hard in the chaos of civilians, but every now and again the voice inside the child would utter simple commands such as, “Turn left here. Stop for a moment. Take the next right.” No one the Avenger was successful for so long if he had this guy telling him what to do.

Next thing they knew they were right outside the tall and imposing building of Ducklair Tower. There were a lot of people sheltered inside. How the hell were they supposed to get past that unnoticed?

“Go around to the back,” the shield whispered.

Following the shield’s instructions the two heroes sneaked around back and to their complete surprise the wall opened up. In no way should brick move like that, but it did. Only to reveal an elevator.

“This is amazing,” Gizmoduck said with wonder.

“This is freaky,” Darkwing muttered.

They stepped into the elevator and up it went, way too fast for their liking. The lift shot up through the tower like it had rockets attached only to have it stop abruptly. The heroes heads smacked the ceiling with enough force to see stars, but they shook the stars away as they eagerly got out of the deathtrap elevator.

Both of them weren’t sure that they didn’t suffer head trauma when they saw the room laid out before them.

In front of their very eyes looked to be a spacious, pristine lab full of monitors along the walls and more buttons on consoles than they could ever figure out what to do with. Fenton couldn’t help, but whistle at the spectacle; this was way better than his and Gyro’s workplace  
.   
“Feh. No wonder the Duck Avenger got so good at heroism if he has all this,” Darkwing grumbled. He was impressed too, but more ticked off that the Avenger had all this hidden away.

At the center of the left wall was a giant green orb just above what looked to be the main console. A fizzing noise emerged quietly from the orb and then a face suddenly popped up   
inside like a digital screen. “Glad you made it safely gentlemen,” It said with a smile.

“AH!” both heroes yelled and jumped back startled. Darkwing instinctively pulled out his gas gun at the shock.

“Yes yes I figured your reaction would be something like that. Still it’s good to meet you Gizmoduck and Darkwing Duck.”

Once Fenton got over his initial shock he couldn’t help but get starried eyed and curious. “Wow! Are you some kind of super artificial intelligence? IS that how you knew how to lead us? Do you have sensors or do you use access to city cameras? Did the Avenger create you?”

“Yes I am an artificial intelligence, the best one to ever exist so far at that. My name is One; I do assist the Duck Avenger, but he did not create me.”

Darkwing crossed his arms, “Then who did? You can’t expect me to believe that someone just let the Avenger have you if your that amazing.”

“No one let him have me, I assist him out of my own free will. I can answer more questions later, but we clearly have a more urgent matter. We need to get DA back and destroy the Evronian ship. I need your help and mobile bodies to do so,” One explained quickly.

“How? The ship has to be in the middle of nowhere outer space by now!” said Darkwing.

“Yes I originally thought so too. The Evronian’s technology is good, but my sensors caught them just before their ‘escape.’” On one of the monitors One pulled up a radar of simple plotted dot points. “This red dot here is the Evronian ship as it was attacking,” One put up another radar image on the monitor beside it. “And this is the ship just after it left.”

“The dot hasn’t moved!” Gizmoduck exclaimed.

“How is that possible? We saw it fucking warp jump the hell out of here,” argued Darkwing.

“That is what they wanted us to see. This is by far the best cloaking technology I’ve seen, but it was all a trick. The Evronians never left. They want us to panic and for us to send all our assets to space so they can strike us while we’re down. But now that we know they’re still here we have an opportunity.”

“So we can still reach the Avenger…” Fenton said with great relief. He had a chance to right his wrongs. He let go of the Avenger once and let him get kidnapped. Fenton wouldn’t let that happen again.

“And we can destroy their ship,” Darkwing said with a firm nod.

“Exactly,” One agreed. I’m already preparing some necessary equipment you will need. First things first though I will need to do some repairs on your suit, Gizmoduck. That will require you to remove it. Though you needn’t have any concerns about me giving away your identity; I’ve known Avenger’s since the first day we met.” 

Fenton sighed, “I’m not really as concerned about it anymore. Almost everyone knows my identity now.” He looked over to Darkwing, “Just long as you don’t go telling any more people.”

“Why would I do that? Our identity is the biggest thing we have,” Darkwing was aghast Gizmoduck would even accuse him of such a thing. Sure he didn’t like Gizmoduck and knew he was better, but he wasn’t downright malicious.

The pressure that kept the Gizmoduck suit together released and opened up for Fenton to step out of it. He removed his helmet, tucking it under his arm. With his free hand he outstretched it to Darkwing to shake. “Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera at your service,” Fenton said with a kind smile.

Darkwing sighed. He knew he it would come to this eventually, but his gut instincts told him he couldn’t trust anyone. Pushing his feeling of uneasiness down Darkwing took off his hat and removed his mask before shaking Fenton’s hand. “Drake Mallard, a pleasure,” he replied with a polite smile. He didn’t like sharing his identity, but he knew there was no going around having to work with Gizmoduck.

Fenton smiled wider at the gesture of trust, genuinely giddy. “It’s great to fully meet you Drake. Wish we didn’t have to show each other who we are under these circumstances, but we’ll work with what we got.”

“Yeah I suppose so.”

“Great! Now that that’s out of the way, let me get to work on the suit. I’m sure I can have it ready in no time!” said One.

Several mechanical arms came out of the floor and ceiling. A table manifested from the floor and the Gizmoduck suit was laid down on it as the arms got to work with precision. 

Fenton watched with awe. “What Gyro wouldn’t give to see all this. He might actually kill me if he found out,” Fenton chuckled.

“Who’s that?” asked Drake.

“Oh, I work in a lab with Mr. McDuck’s head scientist Gyro Gearloose. That’s how I got the suit and this hero gig,” Fenton answered with a sheepish shrug.

Drake rolled his eyes, “Well, aren't you and the Avenger both lucky ducks? All this tech and here I am making everything from scratch with only a tv show to go off of for reference.”

Fenton raised his eyebrows, “Really?? You made all that based on a show? That’s actually pretty cool… You know it could be beneficial for both of us if you came by the lab. I might be able to make you some new weapons and we can talk fighting strategies.”

“You’re serious? That… That would actually be really helpful. Thanks… No I really feel like an asshole.” Drake rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Fenton laughed, “You can make it up to me later if you want, but I don’t hold anything against you.”

A phone rang before the conversation could go any further. Realizing the personalized ringtone, Fenton answered it, “Hello? M’ma is everything okay?”

“Oh thank goodness you’re alright. What’s going on Pollito? Did the aliens leave?”

Fenton shook his head even though his M’ma couldn’t see him, “No, they just cloaked their ship so it’s invisible. Tell everyone to stay inside, it still isn’t safe. We don’t know if they will start attacking again.”

“Okay, I will. What will you do? Are you going up there to destroy it?”

“I think so, but first me and Darkwing have to get the Duck Avenger back. The aliens took him, but we don't know why. I guess it’s cause he was the biggest threat last time. Once we find him we can destroy the ship.”

All Fenton heard on the other end was a sharp inhale. There was a long pause from his mother and that silence scared Fenton. “M’ma…?”

There was a shaky exhale from the receiver before she responded. “Yes I’m fine… Do everything you can to bring him back Pollito. And be careful.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yes, now you better hurry. We don’t know if those aliens will stay for very long.”

“Oh- okay. You be safe too, M’ma. If Donald calls tell him I’ll be back soon enough.”

“...I will.”

They both hung up. Fenton couldn’t shake this feeling that there was something she wasn’t telling him and it didn’t settle right with him. What use was in dwelling on it though? He could only pray his M’ma was okay.

“You okay there?” asked Drake. He had only heard Fenton’s half of the conversation. But the duck had worry written all over his face so he didn’t need to be a class A detective for that one.

“Yeah I’m good.”

“Excellent then I’ve finished the suit in record time!” said One. The arms working on the suit retracted back into the floor and ceiling and there lay a perfectly fixed Gizmoduck suit. It looks like it never even broke in the first place.

Fenton rushed over to the suit with excitement, “That’s amazing! Me and Gyro have never gotten repairs done that fast!”

“Well I am a super computer,” One bragged.

“Let’s test it. Blathering Blatherskite!”

Just as well as before the suit lifted itself and formed around Fenton. A perfect fit. Fenton tested it by moving his arms around and activating difference areas and mechanisms in the suit. Everything seemed fine, until something new popped up. From his right forearm a projectile launching in the shape of what looked to be a taser came out.

“Uuuh what’s this? This wasn’t here before.”

“That is a new feature I added to your suit specifically for this occasion. It creates a blast of pure energy, much like the one you saw happen earlier that caused DA to drop me. After gathering data from that test I was able to make a few modifications,” One answered factually.

“Woah woah woah, hold up,” Drake interjected. “You mean to say that blast out there was a test? What if we all died from that?”

“I had enough information to know that wasn’t likely,” One gave Drake an eye roll. “I simply needed to know the power levels and charge required for the blast. You see in all of DA’s time fighting them we had figured out that the Evronians to seek and live off of energy; any kind of energy that is whether it be kinetic, thermal, fusion and even emotional.”

“But they have a weakness, there is such a thing as too much energy for them and they can be overloaded in a sense. If you hit them with the energy stored in that firearm then you can render any Evronian incapacitated,” One explained.

“Why does he get that and I don’t? Cause I don’t have some fancy schmancy suit?” Drake said irritably.

“Not to worry you get one too,” One said as another table lifted from the floor. This one carrying a gun and two ear pieces. “You too get a weapon that can shoot energy, but let me warn you both that the blast is still large and can throw you if you aren’t on your guard.”

“We know better now, it won’t catch off balance,” said Fenton.

“I should also tell you that because that is a lot of stored energy it only has a limited charge. Gizmoduck yours only has two shots so it wouldn’t interfere with the energy powering your suit. Darkwing yours has three as I had more room to work with. Use it wisely and it’ll grant you a great advantage,” One informed them.

“These aliens don’t stand a chance now!” Darkwing boasted as he donned his hat and mask again. 

“How are we going to get into the ship undetected?” Fenton asked at the same time.

“Leave that to me gentlemen,” One replied with a knowing smirk.

Maria Cabrera hung up on Fenton and immediately put her hand to her mouth in complete and utter shock. Donald was captured, but her son didn’t know that. Hell it had only been just over a week ago they all had dinner together of course Donald hadn’t told Fenton yet. She couldn’t bring herself to tell Fenton the truth herself, not because it wasn’t her secret.

But for the same reasons they don’t allow officers on cases where they know the victim. If Fenton knew who knows how he would react. Probably rush in wildly and that could mean her losing both of them. For his own sake she didn’t tell him the truth. 

But what if he didn’t win? That wasn’t something she couldn’t bare to think of. She didn’t want it to come to a situation where he had to know he lost two people he cared about in one fell swoop. 

The hand holding her phone trembled. 

No she had to let him do this. She knew he would succeed, but that didn’t make the situation any less terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated and I will jump around like a giddy idiot from getting your feedback that is a promise.


	5. Payment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whatever happened to Donald Duck?
> 
> ...too soon?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest; classes are finally handing a heavier workload. (That and I've been reading other's ducktales fics lol)
> 
> Updates might take longer, but I'm definitely still working on it!

“You stole and fixed up one of their hovercrafts? Damn you work fast,” said Darkwing.

“As I said, I am a super artificial intelligence. Moving on, it has a similar cloaking mechanism embedded into it which will allow you to mostly sneak aboard in what I found to be an exhaust port,” said One.

“I don’t like the sound of ‘mostly sneak’” Gizmoduck asked.

“Well you see these crafts are at most made for two rather thin Evrononians. Your suit is quite large so it more than likely cause the cloaking to not fully cover you both. But if you move quickly I think you can make it in!”

“Not our best odds…” Darkwing mumbled.

“Odds are rarely in our favor as I’ve learned in working with DA, but somehow we manage. Now climb aboard and off you go we have no time to waste!” Mechanical hands came out of the walls to coerce the two heroes onto the craft quickly.

Darkwing holstered his new weapon and took to the controls of the hovercraft as Gizmoduck boarded the ship after him. “Let’s get Dangerous,” Darkwing growled out and then took off. The two heroes flying speedily out of the hatch One had opened in the side of the tower.

“I just hope they haven’t freeze-flamed DA yet..” One mumbled to himself.

Avenger tried to swing another punch as he was pushed down to his knees. One Evronvian gripped his arms and cuffed him to make it even harder to struggle. If only he hadn’t lost his shield in the blast; it was much harder to fight with it not on him. One’s advice would be pretty useful right about now too.

He was dragged further in the massive labyrinth inside the ship. Donald watched every turn he was taken, trying to map out an exit. He was pretty confident that finding his way back out wouldn’t be too hard, but then thoughts of the map no longer concerned him as a large, imposing door before him hissed open and he was dragged inside by the three Evronians flanking him.

He’s seen Evronian labs before, he’s snuck all over their ships on a number of occasions and this, this is a lab. The room was domed and would probably feel spacious were it not for bing crammed with machinery. Were it not for the aliens holding him by the arms and him being cuffed he would love to destroy whatever these torcherous devices were.

A grimey laugh came from further in only to reveal himself as the Evronian in blue who had projected his face outside earlier. His hands were clasped together in delight at seeing his captive.

“Ah, it’s so nice to finally meet the infamous Duck Avenger. I’ve heard plenty about you after you destroyed our last fleet and our previous head scientist died with it. I am the new head scientist, Zendar. So really I should be thanking you for the promotion and I think I will be in the form of letting you try my newest project,” Zendar said with a wide grin plastered on his face.

Donald struggled against the aliens holding him back, “Let me go, you space turd! I’m not testing out anything!”

“Oh, but you will be. Whether you like it or not,” Zendar replied with a low chuckle. “You three! Get him in the machine!” 

Zendar pointed to a large upright disk with restraints and a head cover hanging off of it. Donald didn’t need to know what it did to not like the look of it.

He fought harder, kicking up a storm against his captors. He got a good kick to one in the face, then headbutt another in the stomach. Quick to move Donald made a mad dash for the door when a sharp pain in between his shoulder blades knocked him over. 

The Evronians hauled him up again by the arms, this time quick to tie his feet down in the machine. Zendar held a firearm pointed at him in case the Avenger tried anything else.

They uncuffed him and his arms were restrained by the machine. With the Avenger incapacitated Zendar set his weapon aside and removed Donald’s hat before placing the machine’s helmet on him. The Avenger pulled against the restraints, but it was useless with him being practically suspended in the device.

Zendar looked overjoyed at the sight, “I’m sure you’ve had a good look at out technology before, but I can assure you this beautiful machine is quite new. Up until now we could only take all the energy of a being, but with this… we can take and pick apart your emotional energy piece. By. Piece.”

Donald swallowed nervously as Zendar walked around to the control panel. More wary for his safety he continued his futile struggle against the restraints, pulling desperately.

Zendar watched for a second with amusement before looking down at the panel. “So let’s start with the more annoying emotions such as say… your motivation to fight?” 

The machine whirred to life, the disk holding the Avenger up began to glow a blue hue as it activated. Donald continued to struggle; a loud clang resonated in the room as Zendar pulled the switch. It stung like a migraine got injected into his brain, Donald grit his teeth and hissed through the pain, but then it felt like his nerves were zapped by lightning. Donald let out a short scream, but it was then soon over.

His vision was hazy for a moment and all he could do was look down ad his tied up feet. When he came to himself he looked back up, unsure of what to make of what just happened.

“How do you feel about fighting back now?” Zendar’s voice was louder than he’d like. The echoey feeling of the question made Donald wince.

Donald looked at Zondag and the other three Evronians in the room. He looked at the room and remembered wanting to destroy it all. “I wanted to fight and take everything out, but… now it just feels useless.”

Zendar’s grin grew impossibly wider, “Excellent.”

From inside the machine’s controls Zendar pulled out a little glowing blue capsule and inspected it. “This here is your raw emotional energy. Fantastic isn’t it?” Zendar placed the capsule in a tray behind him carefully. 

“I can’t wait to pull out every single emotion you have to use as my own energy source before you slowly become freeze-flamed. We can call this payment for eight years ago,” Zendar said in a fit of maniacal laughter as the Duck Avenger watched him impassively. 

Cutting off his laughter was a deep alarm blaring through the ship. “Zendar sir! Someone had breached the ship!” one of the guards called out.

“I bet it's those other ‘heroes’ that the Avenger fought with earlier. Go guard the door! I want nothing to interrupt my experiment!” Zendar barked at them.

“Yes sir!” The three saluted and upon his instruction they left the room to stand guard.  
Donald lifted his head to try and look out the door. He knew he wouldn’t be able to see anything, but he couldn’t stop his wishful thinking.

“I see you still have some hope in you,” Zendar said as he resumed his position in front of the control panel. “Well I can certainly change that.”

“While he still could Donald hoped with all he had Fenton and Darkwing would be able to find him. And Donald hoped there would still be something left of him when they did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!
> 
> (Also I know this is late cause I haven't updated since before Moonvasion, but can we appreciate how awesome M'ma Cabrera is and how she got to be more involved)


	6. Infiltration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long ya'll. College and job hunting has been kicking my ass, but I'll try to be quicker about the next chapter.

Sirens began to blare loudly, ringing through the metal Gizmoduck and Darkwing were surrounded by. The sound wasn’t kind on their ears, but there was no way to cover their ears in their situations, crawling up the sides of a pipe. The two of them were lucky enough to not have been caught on their route to the ship, but of course they knew getting inside would prove to not be the same.

“Well, no point in trying to sneak in if they know we’re here,” said Gizmoduck.

Darkwing attempted striking a boastful pose as he clung to the inside of the large tube they were in. “We just have to face danger head o-!” Darkwing was cut off by Gizmoduck grabbing him by the arms and rocketing upwards through the ship exhaust and into the ship’s engineering room.

The two heroes were immediately faced by several Evronians, some in familiar purple and other in engineering orange. From all sides they pulled out their blasters, pointed straight at the earth heroes.

Prepared they were quick to react. Darkwing shot off his gas gun, shrouding the room in smoke while Gizmoduck pulled them up to the ceiling and out of direct range. From there Gizmoduck released miniature heat seeking missiles and darkwing shot the rest out of where he remembered them to be. When the gas dissipated, the Evronians were unconscious. 

Gizmoduck lowered them both back onto the ground, “If we can just keep using this tactic things will be smoother than I thought.”

“Yeah I’d like to keep from using those energy blasts until we really need it,” commented Darkwing. 

One, piped in from the x-transformer Darkwing held, “Well then get a move on. I’m afraid I can’t direct you around this time unless you find a command center to plug me into. Until then you’ll have to go in blindly to find DA.” 

“You got it,” said Darkwing. He peered over the entrance side to check if the coast was clear, only to have the barrel of a blaster pointed directly at his face.

“Yikes!” shouted Darkwing as he jumped back in time for the blast to his the wall where his face would have been. Reflexively he reached for his own gun. As Evronians began to charge in, he shot and was pushed back by an enormous shock wave.

“What happened to using that gun when it was an emergency!” Now up against the wall from the wave.

“I grabbed the wrong gun accidentally!” Darkwing yelled back defensively.

“How do you grab the wrong gun?!”

“Settle down you two. You still have 4 charges left all together,” One said to calm them.

“That’s one less than what we had,” said Gizmoduck as he rounded the corner to survey the damage. “Great and there was only three of Evronians! We could have taken them!”

“It was a mistake! What? As if you’re some kind of mister perfect?” Darkwing pushed past Gizmoduck with a low growl, “Whatever let’s keep going.”

Shaking his head Fenton pushed onward behind Drake. He didn’t really want to fight the other hero, in fact he would rather become friends, but he was stressed. This whole fighting an alien armada and rescuing the hero he looked up to thing was a lot. Not that weird shit like this didn’t happen in Duckburg every day, but still a lot.

There was nothing but a hall and a series of opaque sliding doors in front of them on the right side of each door was a button. Without a plan they really could be lead anywhere.

“Why not try fate with lucky door number one!” Darkwing said as he pushed the button. The doors slid open only to reveal a mass of Evronians charging toward them from the other end of the hall. Darkwing gulped, “Just our luck…”

“Only three shots left,” said Gizmoduck as he pushed Darkwing out of the way to aim his arm blaster and fire the intensive energy shot from inside. A direct hit! The Evronians sizzled like a fried out outlet someone stuck a fork in.

“I could have gotten that!” argued Drake.

“Boys! No fighting!” One reminded them before Fenton could make a comeback.

“This place is crawling with Evronians; how do we even begin to know which door is correct?” said Gizmoduck.

“We don’t that’s why I picked randomly,” Darkwing replied. “Come on, let's keep going this way. We already got these guys and there’s no point in trying the other doors when we don’t know what’s ahead.”

Fenton couldn’t argue with that logic so lucky door number one it was.

It was a labyrinth of searching rooms, punching aliens and getting exhausted. Fenton was beginning to wonder how much time had really passed and he didn’t want to check to find out lest he lose his motivation. Another hoard of aliens running at them appeared, like a hivemind they all lifted their blasters in sync, but Darkwing was faster. Only two shots left.

“Finally!” said One as they approached the end of the hall. “I think I know what this door is.”

Fenton perked his head up, “Avenger is in here?”

The door slid open, but it was devoid of life, Fenton clicked his tongue in dismay. The room was cylindrical with a circular console at the center, a large array of screens in a language unknown to them projected on the walls.

“No, but it’s our next best thing. Plug the shield into the console I can get the layout of the ship from this,” said One as a cable popped out of the shield.

Doing as instructed Gizmoduck plugged him in, waiting nervously as One sifted through the data. For a few scant moments it was silent save for Darkwing’s impatient foot tapping.

In a zip cord manner the cable wretched itself out of the console and back into the shield. “We need to move quickly. I found some alarming information, that I would rather not be true. I can take you to the Avenger.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

The two (sort of three) charged back, this time with an actual route to follow. One lead them to a set of large doors, heavily guarded at that.

“Here goes nothing,” Fenton whispered to himself and shot off his last blast of energy at the Evronians guarding the gates before they could get two seconds to react to the duck’s arrival.”

“You know this has been going way easier than I thought it would,” said Darkwing.  
“Great now you jinxed it.”

“Oh shut up,” replied darkwing as he pushed the button and the doors open. As they parted the barrel end of a blaster was immediately acquainted with his bill. “Oh boy..”

On instinct Gizmoduck tackled the Evronian in question; this one dressed in blue. As he did the blast shot off, piercing through his metallic armor and hitting his shoulder. Fenton yowled in pain. Taking advantage of the situation Zendar kicked Gizmoduck off of him and scurried further in. Right next to the device that one limp bodied Duck Avenger was suspended in.

“Don’t move! Or I’ll fry his brains into nothing but dust! You can have an empty hero after that!” Zendar cackled wildly.

It was reactionary, but Darkwing took a chance. Raising the energy blaster shot the console of the device and it exploded into flames.

“No! Zendar and One shouted in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fenton and Drake will get along, they're just stressed lol
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated.


	7. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told ya'll I'd update soon ;)

It was too late for regrets; before anything else could happen, Darkwing rushed in and clocked the Evronian scientist in the face, knocking him onto the floor unconscious. 

“We needed that machine!” shouted One.

“He was going to kill the Avenger!” Darkwing argued back.

Gizmoduck wheeled himself over to the Avenger. A lump sat in his throat like a stone. If the Duck Avenger was dead he would never forgive himself. 

No, his visor read that he was still breathing. His vitals were okay save for a fast heart rate and horrifying blood dripping from his mouth, but he was alive.

“Avenger are you okay? It’s Me Fe- Gizmoduck.”

Much to his relief the Avenger lifted his head. But before Fenton could release the breath his was holding he was met with a blank stare that set a chill in his spine. “Avenger?” He whispered.

“Oh… you’re here,” the Duck Avenger replied in monotone. 

“It’s just as I feared,” said One. “When I was scanning the ship for a map I came across this room and the devices in it. The Evronians rely on energy and they can pull it out of almost anything. This machine extracts emotional energy; and by the looks of it they took quite a bit from DA.”

Darkwing stares in shock at the machine he just destroyed, guilty at his own actions. “But there has to be a way to reverse it, right? You’re a super computer aren’t you? Tell me this wasn’t the only way.”

“I only got an initial scan of the machine, but I would have to replicate it here. The biggest problem is we need to collect the energy taken from DA,” answered One.

“I refuse to leave him in this state!” outbursts Gizmoduck. Using his suit’s strength Gizmoduck broke the cuffs keeping the Avenger captured in the machine and set him on the ground. He waved his hand in front of the Avenger to regain his attention. “Hey… Avenger? Do you know what emotions that Evronian took from you and where it went?”

Avenger squinted as if to think, but the vacant expression in his eyes made the heroes think otherwise. “He said uh… determination, hope, joy, anger, confidence, sadness and I think there’s another in there.” He pointed to the tray behind the console as he began to list them off. 

“These little blue orbs?” said Darkwing as he went to the tray and picked one up to inspect it .

“Be careful with those,” warned One. “Gather all of them up, we need to get going before any conscious Evronians find you. And I may have failed to mention that when in the console room I set the ship on a self destruct timer.”

“YOU WHAT?!” Darkwing and Gizmoduck screamed in unison.

“You have four minutes remaining so best you hurry!”

The heroes didn’t need to be told twice Gizmoduck scooped up the now apathetic Avenger and Darkwing grabbed the emotion orbs. One directed them from the shield through the ships maze towards the exit. While there were still Evronians lurking about to attack, the heroes paid them no mind and sprinted past, not bothering to beat them up when they’re about to explode.

“The exit isn’t too far ahead. One minute and thirteen seconds remaining. Gizmoduck you’re going to have to fly everyone out,” said One.

“On it!”

Darkwing stashed the orbs in his utility pouch as they entered a docking bay. He yanked the switch, the bay door lowered open.

Just as they were about to jump from behind them they heard a shout. “You aren’t getting away that easy!”

Just as they turned their heads to see Zendar, awake and fuming he fired from an unfamiliar blaster. The shot hit Gizmoduck in the center of his back, the suit was electrified and fizzled loudly until there was a pop like a broken light-bulb. In the panic of it Fenton let go of the Avenger again. This time he only sat on the floor uncaringly. 

“The suit’s power is fried!” said Gizmoduck.

“Good now you either splat your brains on the city ground or I will pull your mind apart piece by piece like I did him!” Zendar spat angrily. 

As Zendar gestured to where the Duck Avenger was sitting he now noticed the emotionless hero was missing. “Where is h-”

The blaster was slipped out of Zendar’s hands and the Evronian scientist was shot point blank. His body was overflowed with energy, rendering him incapacitated.

The other heroes were surprised and amazed. “Avenger how did you-”

“25 seconds boys! This is probably a good time to mention the shield has a hang-gliding feature so hang on!” One reminded them.

The x-transformer changed shape into a shiny new hang glider in Darkwing’s hands. Gizmoduck grabbed the Avenger again and took hold of the gliders handle. They took off in a running start, gliding away from the ship, it was then One began the count down.

“Seven… six… five… four… three… two… one…” 

Right on time the ship exploded behind them. A wave of heat his their backs and pushes the glider away faster. They made it to the ground; they were alive.

The x-transformer took on its original state once they were safe. The Evronians were gone but everything wasn’t fine yet and they all knew that. Tired, but accomplished the heroes snuck through the city to Ducklair tower. As much as they would love to see their fans and citizens, it probably wasn't the best they saw the city’s original hero the way he is. He barely even looked able to comprehend being led around much less hold a conversation with fans.

“You know you don’t have to come with us, right? I know how much you love the press and this would be great for your image,” Fenton said to Drake.

“Yeah I know… I just thought I would see this through to the end,” said Drake.

Fenton returned him with a wide smile.

Once again they were in the 151st floor of Ducklair tower where One was waiting for the three of them. Fenton was dead tired, his shoulder felt like it was on fire and the weight of the powered down suit was hurting. Immediately upon entering One began to rattle off what he needed to tell them.

“I began working on recreating the Evronian machine as soon as it was destroyed,” One started.

“Sorry…” Darkwing mumbled.

“Now gathering the data there were some materials not found on earth that comprise some important pieces, but I’m creating substitutions as best I can. DA if you could have a seat for me please, and Darkwing if you could deposit those capsules of emotional energy for me in here.”

Both a chair and a glass container manifested from the floor; Avenger took a seat, face still blank as a new canvas, while Darkwing placed all seven orbs in the container.

Gizmoduck tapped the Avenger on the shoulder lightly, getting most of his attention. “Hey Duck Avenger uh,” he coughed nervously. He was finally getting to properly talk to his hero, well sort of. “I wanted to ask you about what you did on that ship. If that Evronian took you determination to fight and hope of winning then why did you move to shoot him?”

There was a long pause, only the sounds of machinery as One worked and Darkwing’s curious exploration of the room made a sound.

Finally Avenger looked at him, really looked at him, there was still some of him left and Fenton knew that. “I still know right and wrong and… he shot you first,” the Avenger replied with a shrug.

Gizmoduck was almost dumb-founded by the answer, but leave it to the Duck Avenger to still have a sense of justice when he’s lost everything else. He could almost laugh. “Well thanks for having my back.”

“Of course, Fenton,” Avenger said with a nod in response.

Fenton blinked twice, now really confused. “Wait how do you know-”

“Done!” shouted One. “Or at least as close as we can get with the materials he on Earth. But not a bad job if I do say so myself,” One said in brag-worthy fashion.

A duplicate, a little odd in color and of course lacking the torture like trap, arose out of the floor before them. The smoke around it for effect. The Avenger’s chair slid across the floor and in position just under the machine’s headpiece.

“Are you sure it’s exactly the same?” asked Darkwing dubiously. 

“No one could have made it better,” One replied.

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

One ignored Darkwing in favor of an explanation, “Now I’m going to use this to create the reverse process of the machine, placing DA’s emotions back inside him, but I’m sure it won’t be any more fun than the extraction.”

Gizmoduck winced at the sound of that, “So it will still be painful?”

“More like overwhelming. Imagine feeling the entirety of a single emotion all at once and then imagine it happening seven times over.”

Through the chair two straps appeared, holding down the Avenger’s arms. “This is for his own good,” One said. “There’s a high risk he will get too caught in his emotions and try to get up, ruining the process Now then, let’s begin”

The machine fired up, whirring to life in a soft glow. Fenton and Drake watch in intense anticipation from the sidelines as the helmet on the Avenger lights up and for a second the hero convulses and the sounds of the machine quiet down.

They wait… and then the Duck Avenger is smiling, he starts to laugh so hard he cries, but he can’t seem to stop. The hero almost looks insane with happiness.

“I’m going to guess that one is joy. I can tell none of these capsules apart so it will be a bit random. Let’s move onto the next, shall we?”

And that’s how they move through each emotion. The Avenger goes from laughing to gritting teeth and seething rage. From there boisterous confidence with and unparalleled hero’s smile. From that was heartbreaking sorrow and endless tears. Again and again it happened on a roller coaster of moods to the final one where the Duck Avenger cried, but the smile on his face was soft. He lifted his head, extending the smile to Fenton who became flustered in return.

The straps undid themselves at One’s control, the Avenger stood up with a tall stretch, feeling good to be normal again. The hero turned to the green sphere of his computerized companion. “One, what would I do without you?”

One smiled, “Doing hero work the hard way like you’ve always done DA.”

“Good to see you back, Duck Avenger,” said Darkwing, “Does this mean you’re coming out of retirement?”

The Avenger shook his head and smiled, “No I think I’d like to stay out of this business, but if I’m ever needed there’s no doubt I’ll help. Especially when it comes to Evronians, but I counting on them being gone for good this time.”

“Let’s hope for the better, now if you’ll excuse me I think I have some press do talk to.” With a swish of his cape and a puff of smoke Darkwing was as gone as he could be, ignoring the fact that they clearly saw him get in the elevator.

“Why don’t I take another look at that suit, GD? My scanners also read that you’re partially wounded in your left shoulder,” said One.

Fenton took a glance at the Duck Avenger before sighing and shedding his armor, “Everyone seems to know my identity anyways.” He placed each piece on the table One brought up for him, taking the helmet off last. He turned and faced his hero with a tired smile, extending his right arm, “Nice to meet you officially, sir. Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera at your service.”

But the Duck Avenger didn’t take his hand. Instead he covers his bill with his hand to muffle a laugh, leaving Fenton confused. 

“Fenton, you’re so smart and so brilliant… but you’re also one of the densest people I’ve ever met.”

“...what?”

Donald removed the voice changer on his suit and untied his mask. Fenton was speechless. “It takes a real idiot genius to look me in the face and not realize something is off or maybe I’m just that good,” Donald said with a laugh.

“I- you- what?” Fenton was short-circuiting.

Donald rolled his eyes, grabbed Fenton by the shirt and kissed him. That surely shut him up. 

Donald still didn’t let go of Fenton when their beaks parted, his voice a whisper, “I really meant to tell you about this, I just couldn’t figure out how or when.”

“I’m still reeling at the part where you show me you’re the hero I’ve literally idolized for years.”

Donald laughed and kissed him again. He really did love this idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go! This has been a lovely journey with ya'll <3
> 
> Comments and kudos always appreciated!


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting some rest, sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! I just had a heavy work and school load that was finally getting to me, but now finals are over! Sorry to leave ya'll hanging on the last chapter.

“Uncle Donald you can’t be serious,” said Louie with an exasperated expression.

“You mean to say you somehow found the time to be a superhero even after the whole military and caballeros thing!?” Dewey shouted.

“What do you want me to wear the outfit to prove it?” Donald replied with a laugh. He knew there was going to be some push back from his family on this. He had yet another secret and coming clean wasn’t easy. Donald felt the need to sink further in the couch as he tried to explain.

“But from all the video evidence of the Duck Avenger in past years his voice was uh… not yours and you didn’t have that voice modulator Gyro made for you during the shadow war,” said Huey.

“I had one imbedded in the suit. A friend made it for me.” Shit. He didn’t mean to make that also mysterious too.

“Oh so now you have secret friends?” Della said with a raised eyebrow.

Donald waved his arms to placate her. “No no, I didn’t mean it like that. His name is One, but I can’t physically introduce him because he doesn’t want Uncle Scrooge to try and hire him for what he can do. And he can do pretty much anything.”

“If he made a voice device before Gyro ever did then they could work together. I could always use another brilliant mind.,” Scrooge tried to reason. Donald gestured to Scrooge as though to say ‘my point exactly’ and everyone shrugged in understanding.

“You’ve got to tell us of all your alien punching stories!” said Dewey as he jumped onto the couch.

Webby chimed in, “Yeah! And I read you might have snuck into secret facilities. I need espionage details!”

Donald laughed, “Later I will for sure, but I do have to get going for dinner with Fenton and his mom.” He stood up and stretched, glancing at Della only to see a concerned look on her face.

“You did so much while I was gone and even when I was still here… are you sure this is the last thing you kept secret?” Della’s face was riddled with emotions of fear, worry, sadness. Donald thinks he might even recognize them more now after having been near emotionless. 

Donald approached his sister with a soft smile and pulled her into a tight hug. “This is the last thing, I promise. I don’t think I would have had the time to do anything else exciting nor do I want to again. You know it all now.”

Della smiled and hugged him back tightly. When they let go she punched him on the shoulder, “Don’t get caught by aliens again, alright? And say hi to Fenton for us.”

“I will, I’m sure you’ll get a text later that he says hi back.” Donald pat each duckling on the head fondly before exiting the mansion to his car and driving into the calm evening that settled over Duckburg. 

Talking to Mrs. Cabrera had been another whole ordeal.

“Mama you’re smothering him!” Fenton cried out as Donald was indeed being crushed by a hug that displayed amazing strength.

Maria let go of Donald after kissing his forehead. “Look at both of you, injured from fighting horrible evils. The two of you are going to give me more gray feathers knowing I have to keep track of not one, but two superheroes.”

Donald couldn’t help, but smile as a warmth filled his chest. “You don’t have to keep track of both of us. Fenton maybe, but I quit hero work for real this time.” Fenton mumbled an indignant ‘hey’ at Donald’s comment.

Mama rolled her eyes and placed her hands on each side of Donald’s face so he couldn’t look away. “Are you telling me that if you, Donald Duck, saw another alien invasion or ,y son in trouble that you would be able to withhold from jumping at the scene.”

Oof she had a point there. He sighed as she let go of is face. “Yeah I guess you’re right. If anything were to happen again I couldn’t just stand by.” 

“Because you have too big a heart,” said Fenton as he joined his boyfriend’s side, wrapping an arm around Donald’s waist. “And I know you could chew us out all day and then some mama, but he did come here for dinner and the food is getting cold.”

“Who said I couldn’t chew you out while we eat dinner?” Mama returned with a smile and a hand on her hip. The boys laughed and she gestured them to the table. “Come on, let’s eat.”

Maria was done getting on their case for now, she had a feeling there would be plenty of time to get upset at them later. With two accident prine heroes on her hands she had a lot of ground to cover, but she was happy. And from the looks of her boy’s eyes as thy looks at each other and held hands, so were they.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this fic and fun journey. I do plan to right more Ducktales stuff in the future, but for now next on my list is an idea I had for BNHA.
> 
> Comments and kudos are loved and appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to comment and kudos!
> 
> And if you have the time check out my ongoing original work Fae, Foxes and Changing Troubles :)


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